JP4654718B2 - Image recording device manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an image recording body such as a plastic sheet using an image formed by an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to a cash card with a face photo, an employee card, a student card, an individual member. Certificate, residence certificate, various driver's licenses, non-contact or contact-type personal information such as information certificate, information media with personal information image information, as well as image sheets, image display boards, and display labels for personal identification used in medical settings The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an image recording body to be used.

  In recent years, along with the development of image forming technology, means for forming images of the same quality in large quantities and at low cost by various printing methods such as intaglio printing, relief printing, planographic printing, gravure printing, and screen printing are known. Yes. Such a printing method is used for surface printing of an information medium that can store predetermined information such as an IC card, a magnetic card, an optical card, or a combination of these, and can communicate with an external device in contact or non-contact. Are often used.

  However, for example, the screen printing requires a large number of printing plates corresponding to the number of images to be printed, and in the case of color printing, printing plates corresponding to the number of colors are further required. Therefore, these printing methods are unsuitable for individually responding to individual identification information (face photo, name, address, date of birth, various licenses, etc.).

  The most mainstream image forming means for the above problems is an image forming method using a printer or the like employing a sublimation type or melting type thermal transfer system using an ink ribbon or the like. However, these can easily print personal identification information, but still have the problem that the resolution decreases when the printing speed is increased and the printing speed decreases when the resolution is increased.

  In contrast, in electrophotographic image formation (printing), the surface of the image carrier is uniformly charged, exposed in accordance with an image signal, and an electrostatic latent image due to a potential difference between an exposed portion and a non-exposed portion is generated. Then, a color powder (image forming material) called toner having a polarity opposite to (or the same as) the charge is electrostatically developed to form a visible image (toner image) on the surface of the image carrier. Done in the way. In the case of a color image, this process is repeated a plurality of times, or a plurality of image forming devices are arranged in parallel to form a visible color image, and these are transferred and fixed (fixed: mainly by heat) to the image recording medium. This is performed by a method of obtaining a color image by melting and solidifying the color powder by cooling.

  As described above, in the electrophotographic method, the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the image carrier is electrically formed by the image signal, so that not only the same image can be formed many times, but also different images can be easily handled. Image formation is possible. Further, the toner image on the surface of the image carrier can be transferred almost completely to the surface of the image recording body, and the toner image slightly remaining on the surface of the image carrier can be easily removed with a resin blade or a brush. Therefore, it is possible to easily produce printed materials for multi-product small-volume production.

  The toner is usually formed by melt-mixing a heat-meltable resin, a pigment, and optionally an additive such as a charge control agent, and pulverizing and finely pulverizing the kneaded product. Further, the electrostatic latent image in the electrophotographic method has a considerably higher resolution than the finely divided toner, and a sufficient resolution is expected even when compared with the resolution of the screen printing or thermal transfer method of the ink ribbon. it can.

  For color images, the four primary colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are used as color toners, and these can be mixed to theoretically reproduce the same color as in printing. In the above color toner, since the toner resin and the pigment can be blended relatively freely, it is easy to increase the image concealment by the toner.

Examples of printing various cards using the electrophotographic apparatus described above include the following.
For example, two light-transmitting films having a fixed image formed on one surface by an electrophotographic apparatus are stacked and positioned via a core sheet, and the stacked body is heated and pressed to form two core sheets. A method of producing a card by laminating with a light transmissive film has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-195973

  In general, in the case of card printing, the surface is required to have high gloss. In the card printing apparatus as described above, since the surface of the laminator belt is transferred as it is onto the surface of the card to be produced, a laminator belt having a high glossiness is used. However, a belt with high gloss has a small coefficient of friction with a laminate made of film, and when the laminate enters the nip formed by a pair of laminator belts, slippage may occur between the two, or the nip may In some cases, the laminate was clogged without entering.

  In the electrophotographic apparatus, in a fixing device for fixing an image on a film, oil is supplied to prevent the toner from adhering to the fixing device, and this oil adheres to the surface of the laminate. For this reason, when the amount of oil attached increases due to deterioration of the fixing device, there is a problem from the viewpoint of reliability, such as clogging of the laminated body particularly at the nip portion, and frequent cleaning of the fixing device is required. It was.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.
That is, the present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an image recording body using an electrophotographic apparatus as an image forming means on a plastic film, and continuously produces a high-resolution image recording body with high productivity without producing defective products. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an image recording body.

The above-mentioned subject is achieved by the following present invention. That is, the present invention
<1> At least an image forming means for forming an image on the surface of a film by an electrophotographic method, and the film are laminated so that at least one side of the support and the surface on which the image is formed face each other An image recording body manufacturing apparatus comprising: positioning means; and thermocompression bonding means for heating and pressurizing the positioned laminated body through a nip formed by a belt pair,
At least one grip part is provided on the surface of the belt pair on the side where the nip part is formed, a detection part for detecting the position of the grip part, and the output signal from the detection part An apparatus for producing an image recording body provided with timing control means including a timing control section for transporting the stacked body and bringing the leading end of the stacked body and the grip portion into contact with each other at the entrance of the nip portion.

  In the above invention <1>, the grip portion is provided on the belt, and the timing of conveyance of the laminate to the nip portion inlet can be controlled in accordance with the output signal of the detection portion that detects the position of the grip portion. For this reason, the laminated body comes into contact with the grip portion of the belt at the entrance of the nip portion, and can stably enter the nip portion.

<2> The apparatus for producing an image recording body according to <1>, wherein a surface roughness of the grip portion is an arithmetic average roughness Ra in a range of 0.1 to 2.0 μm.

  In the invention <2> described above, the grip portion is formed by a simple method of roughening the surface of the belt, whereby the frictional force with the laminate can be increased, and the laminate can be stably entered into the nip portion. Can be made.

<3> The image recording body manufacturing apparatus according to <1>, wherein the grip portion is configured by forming a plurality of holes or grooves in the belt.

  In the above invention <3>, the laminated body can be stably entered into the nip portion by forming a plurality of holes or grooves in the belt and providing the grip portion.

  According to the present invention, a conventional electrophotographic apparatus can be used as an image forming means without greatly remodeling, and a high-resolution plastic sheet (image recording body) can be produced with high productivity without causing defective products and machine troubles. It is possible to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an image recording body that can be used.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail.
In the following description, components having substantially the same functions are described using the same reference numerals throughout the drawings, and description thereof may be omitted in some cases. First, before describing the apparatus for producing an image recording body of the present invention capable of obtaining the above-described effect, the image recording body produced by the present invention will be briefly described.

FIG. 6 shows a cross-sectional view of an example of an image recording body manufactured by the image recording body manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. This image recording body is formed by laminating and laminating an electrophotographic laminate film (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a “laminate film”) in which a toner image is formed on at least one surface of the core sheet (support). .
As shown in FIG. 6, in the image recording body, the core sheet 1 and the surface film 3 on which the images 2 and 4 are formed and the back film 5 (both are electrophotographic laminate films) are formed on the images 2 and 4. The side surface is laminated and laminated so as to face each other with the core sheet 1.

  Note that the configuration of the image recording body is not limited to the example shown in FIG. 6. For example, either the front film 3 or the back film 5 may be a non-light transmissive film, The formation of one of the images 2 and 4 may be omitted. Moreover, the form which forms an image in the single side | surface of the surface film 3 and / or the back surface film 5 (for example, light non-permeable film), and laminates the non-image surface facing each other may be sufficient. In this case, the image forming surface of the film may be further laminated with a protective film. Therefore, the image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic laminate film may be a normal image or a mirror image.

FIG. 7 relates to another image recording body produced by the plastic sheet producing apparatus of the present invention, and shows an example of the state before thermocompression bonding in the production of the image recording body, and an example of the image recording body after thermocompression bonding and peeling. It is sectional drawing. In FIG. 7, reference numerals 100 and 200 denote image forming material transfer sheets for electrophotography, and 300 denotes a transfer target (support).
FIG. 7A shows a state in which a laminate is configured by superimposing an image forming material transfer sheet for electrophotography (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “transfer sheet”) 100 and 200 and a transfer target 300. It is shown. Before thermocompression bonding, the image forming material (toner, which is formed on the transfer sheet in the present invention with a mirror surface) 130 is the image receiving layer 120 or 220 side of the transfer sheet, or the image receiving layers 120 and 220 and the transfer target. It exists in the interface with 300.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7B, the image forming material 130 is completely embedded in the surface of the transfer object 300 after the thermocompression bonding and peeling. Therefore, there is almost no step between the surface of the transfer target 300 and the portion where the image forming material 130 exists, and the produced image recording body has the same feel as the printed image recording body, and the image forming material. 130 is not easily peeled off.

Next, an apparatus for producing an image recording body of the present invention capable of obtaining the image recording body will be described with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an apparatus for producing an image recording body of the present invention. This production apparatus is for producing the image recording body shown in FIG. 6, and a light-transmitting film is used as the film.
The image recording body manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes an image forming apparatus (image forming means) 10, a collating apparatus 20, and a thermocompression bonding apparatus (thermocompression bonding means) 30.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes, for example, a film stacker 11 (film storage unit), an image forming unit 12, a conveyance path 13 that conveys a light transmissive film from the film stacker 11 to the image forming unit 12, and an image forming unit 12. The conveyance path 15 conveys the light-transmitting film after image formation to the discharge port 14. Other configurations are omitted.

  Although not shown, the image forming unit 12 develops a latent image carrier that forms a latent image, a developer that develops the latent image using a developer containing at least toner, and obtains a toner image, and the developed toner image The image forming apparatus includes a known electrophotographic color image forming apparatus including a transfer device for transferring the toner image to the light transmissive film, and a fixing device for fixing the toner image transferred to the light transmissive film by heating and pressing. .

  The conveyance paths 13 and 15 are composed of a plurality of roller pairs including guide roller pairs and guides (not shown). Further, the conveyance path 15 is an inversion path that reverses the conveyance direction of the light transmissive film by 180 °. 16 is provided. Near the branch between the conveyance path 15 and the reverse path 16, a cam 17 is provided for changing the guide direction of the light transmissive film. When the light transmissive film is reciprocated on the reversing path 16 and returned to the transport path 15 again, the transport direction of the light transmissive film is reversed by 180 ° and the front and back surfaces of the light transmissive film are reversed and transported.

  The collating device (positioning means) 20 includes a core sheet stacker 22, a collating tray 25, a conveyance path 24 that supplies the core sheet from the core sheet stacker 22 to the collating tray 25, and a discharge port 14 of the image forming apparatus 10. The transport path 21 supplies the discharged light-transmitting film to the collating tray 25.

  The discharge part of the conveyance path 24 that supplies the core sheet to the collating tray 25 and the discharge part of the conveyance path 21 that supplies the light transmissive film to the collation tray 25 are provided in parallel in the height direction.

  The transport path 21 may be, for example, a structure provided with a smooth plate-shaped member and a transport roll for transporting the light-transmitting film on the surface thereof, or a rotating belt-shaped transport body. It may be configured. Then, at the timing when the light transmissive film is discharged from the image forming apparatus 10, the transport roll and the belt rotate to transport the light transmissive film to the collating tray 25.

  Further, the core sheet stacker 22 is provided with a pick-up roll and a paper feed roll as provided in a normal paper feeder, and the collating tray 25 has moved to the position of the discharge port of the core sheet stacker 22. The sheet feeding roll or the like rotates at the timing immediately after that, and conveys the core sheet to the collating tray 25.

  The collating tray 25 is, for example, a part of its end portion up and down (in the drawing, as shown in FIG. It is connected to a belt outer wall stretched in the vertical direction, and is configured to move up and down as the belt rotates. Not only such lifting means, but also known lifting means such as a motor drive system can be applied. Moreover, although not shown in figure, the means to align and arrange | position the edge part of the laminated | stacked core sheet 1, the surface film 3, and the back film 5 in FIG.

  The collating tray 25 is provided with a temporary fastening device 26 for temporarily fastening a laminated body in which two light transmissive films are laminated via a core sheet. The temporary fixing device 26 is composed of, for example, a pair of protruding pieces made of metal so as to be heated by a heater or the like, and the laminated body is sandwiched between the heated pair of protruding pieces. The end of each is heat-welded and temporarily fixed.

  When the temporary fixing device 26 is provided on the transport path of the laminated body from the collating tray 25 to the cleaning device 50 as shown in FIG. It is necessary to take the structure which can be evacuated from the said conveyance path at the time of being arrange | positioned at the edge part of this, and other than that.

  The laminated body whose end is temporarily fastened by the temporary fastening device 26 is conveyed from the collating tray 25 to the thermocompression bonding device 30, and the thermocompression bonding portions (indicated by reference numerals 31 to 35) disposed in the thermocompression bonding device 30. A plastic sheet (image recording body) as shown in FIG. 6 is produced by laminating at a portion composed of the members shown).

  In addition, although conveyance of the laminated body from the collation tray 25 to the thermocompression bonding part may be directly conveyed from the collation tray 25 to the thermocompression bonding part, if necessary, the collation tray 25 and the thermocompression bonding part You may provide the conveyance means comprised from a conveyance belt in between.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing details of a configuration example of the thermocompression bonding portion in the thermocompression bonding apparatus 30.
The thermocompression bonding part has a configuration in which a plastic sheet can be easily produced on-line by adopting a belt nip method composed of a pair of belt pairs (endless belt pair) 31. The belt pair 31 is constructed so that the belt pair 31 is not distorted by the tension spring 36 in a state where the belt pair 31 is stretched by a pair of tension roll pairs 32 and a pair of inlet roll pairs 35.

  In the belt pair 31, a pair of heating and pressing rolls 34 and a pair of cooling rolls 33 are provided between the tension roll 32 and the inlet roll 35 from both sides (in the vertical direction in the figure) via the belt pair 31, respectively. ) And the belt pair 31 are arranged so as to be in pressure contact with each other. The tension roll pair 32 and the inlet roll pair 35 are installed such that a gap is provided between the belt pair 31 without bringing the respective roll pairs into pressure contact with each other. Thereby, even if the belt pair 31 meanders by continuous operation, the belt can be returned to a predetermined position while being operated.

  As a method for returning the belt pair 31 to a predetermined position when the belt pair 31 meanders, although not shown, a stopper may be installed so that the belt pair 31 does not deviate from the predetermined position, or tension springs installed on the left and right sides. The meandering of the belt pair 31 may be prevented by controlling the spring force.

  In the plastic sheet manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, laminating is performed by heating to a temperature higher than the glass transition temperature of the light transmissive film (film) in the thermocompression bonding section. Therefore, the state of the belt surface thrives as it is on the surface of the laminated body after lamination. Therefore, the surface of the belt is preferably as smooth and uniform as possible, and the surface roughness is preferably 0.02 μm or less in terms of arithmetic average roughness Ra.

  The thermal fusion (laminate) of the laminate in the thermocompression bonding portion is performed by heating and pressurizing the laminate with a heat and pressure roll pair 34 disposed on the downstream side of the inlet roll pair 35. However, since the belts constituting the belt pair 30 as described above have a high gloss and smooth surface, when the laminated body made of a resin film on both sides enters the nip portion of the belt pair 31, the front ends of the laminated body The belt portion 31 and the belt pair 31 may slip, and the laminate may not enter the nip portion.

  If the laminated body stops near the entrance of the belt pair 31 in the state as described above, the next laminated body produced in the image forming process and the collating process is continuously conveyed. The laminated body overlaps near the entrance of the laminated body, and the laminated body is clogged. In addition, when the laminated body stays at the entrance of the belt pair 31 for a long time and the tip of the laminated body and the belt pair 31 continue to be rubbed, not only the tip of the laminated body melts and deforms, This is not preferable because the surface of the belt is damaged.

  In order to avoid the above problems, the present inventors have some kind of assist that causes the laminated body to enter the nip portion at the timing when the laminated body is conveyed to the inlet of the nip portion when the laminated body enters the nip portion. I thought it was necessary. Specifically, at least one grip portion is provided on the surface of the belt on the side where the nip portion is formed, and the tip portion and the tip are aligned with the timing when the tip portion of the laminate is conveyed to the inlet of the nip portion. It has been found that the laminate can surely enter the nip portion by bringing the grip portion into contact with the entrance of the nip portion.

Here, the said grip part in this invention means the part from which the frictional force by the rubbing with the laminated body in a belt becomes larger than another part.
More specifically, it is preferably a portion where the dynamic friction coefficient between the laminate and the belt under a certain condition is 0.6 or more, and more preferably 1.0 or more. On the other hand, the dynamic friction coefficient between the belt portion other than the grip portion and the laminate is in the range of 0.1 to 0.5.

  By providing the grip portion as described above on the belt surface and bringing the tip of the laminate into contact with the grip portion at the entrance of the nip portion of the belt pair, the laminate can reliably cause the friction force between the laminate and the belt. It can be increased to a level higher than that carried to the nip portion, and slippage between the laminate and the belt in the vicinity of the entrance as described above can be prevented.

  The dynamic friction coefficient is measured using a surface friction coefficient measuring machine HEIDON manufactured by Shinto Kagaku Co., Ltd., and a belt (grip and other parts are prepared separately) and a laminate (surface is a film) Were brought into surface contact, the laminate was movable, the belt was fixed, and the mixture was placed in an oven at 100 ° C. under the conditions of a load of 1 kg and a moving speed of 2.5 mm / sec.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic view (perspective view) of a belt provided with a grip portion used in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, a rough portion as a grip portion is provided at at least one location on the belt surface, and in the belt 60 shown in the figure, four grip portions 62a and 62b (other 2 locations) are equally spaced on the circumference of the belt. About the place, it exists in the belt lower side in the figure).

The grip portions 62a and 62b have a surface roughness in the range of 0.1 to 2.0 μm in terms of arithmetic average roughness Ra by roughening the belt surface corresponding to the grip portion by various methods. The surface roughness is preferably in the range of 0.2 to 2.0 μm in Ra.
If the surface roughness is less than 0.1 μm, sufficient frictional force may not be obtained when the tip of the laminate contacts, which may cause conveyance failure. On the other hand, if the thickness exceeds 2.0 μm, there may be a problem in that the laminated body that is in contact with or the opposite belt is damaged, and the quality of the image recording body is deteriorated or the belt life is shortened.

  The Ra is measured using a surface roughness meter surfcom 1400A (manufactured by Tokyo Seimitsu Co., Ltd.) according to JIS B 0601-1994, with a measurement length of 5.0 mm, a cut-off value of 0.8 mm, a measurement speed of 0.8 mm. The measurement was performed under the condition of 30 mm / sec.

  The shape of the grip portion is not particularly limited as long as it is a shape that can transport the laminate to the nip when the tip of the laminate contacts, and does not damage the laminate or the belt, but is shown in FIG. Such a band shape is preferable. In this case, the width of the grip portion (the length in the circumferential direction of the belt) is preferably in the range of 1 to 20 mm, and more preferably in the range of 2 to 10 mm.

  Further, the grip portion in the present invention may be provided on the belt peripheral surface at a position where it can come into contact with one or more tip portions of the laminated body. However, like the grip portions 62a and 62b, the rotation (advance) direction of the belt. It is preferable that it is continuously formed in a direction orthogonal to Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the belt 60 may be formed in the entire width direction, or a plurality of the belts 60 may be arranged in the width direction with a certain length. However, the overall length (the sum of the lengths in the case of a plurality of them) is preferably in the range of 0.3 W to 1.0 W with respect to the width W of the belt 60.

  Furthermore, the interval between the plurality of grip portions 62a and 62b is substantially determined by the length of the laminate, and is preferably in the range of 1.0L to 1.5L with respect to the length L of the laminate, More preferably, the range is 1.0 L to 1.2 L. In addition, when a plurality of grip portions are provided on the endless belt, it is preferable to provide the grip portions at equal intervals from the relationship with the timing of transporting a laminate to be described later.

The method of forming the grip portions 62a and 62b is not particularly limited, but when the belt is a metal belt such as stainless steel, it can be formed by sandblasting or grinding.
In addition, it is more preferable that the grip portion is provided not only on one belt but also on both belts. In this case, both grip portions are simultaneously niped by a method described later so as not to damage the opposite belt in the nip portion. It is preferable to control the timing so as to enter the part.

Next, the movement of the laminate in the present invention will be described.
In the apparatus for producing an image recording body of the present invention, as described above, at the nip portion entrance of the thermocompression bonding portion, it is necessary that the leading end portion of the laminated body conveyed comes into contact with the grip portion of the belt. Therefore, if the grip portion is cut into the laminated body that has entered the nip portion and enters the nip portion, or enters the nip portion before the laminated body is transported, the grip portion traces on the surface of the laminated body. Or the production efficiency of the image recording body decreases.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to prevent the occurrence of the above problem, it is necessary to control the timing of transporting the laminated body to the nip portion inlet.
Specifically, the timing control includes a detection unit that detects the position of the grip portion on the belt, and a timing control unit that controls the timing of conveyance to the nip portion entrance of the laminate in accordance with a signal from the detection unit. Means are provided. The nip portion inlet refers to the position of reference numeral 39 in FIG.

  More specifically, (A) a gate is provided at the inlet of the thermocompression bonding section, and the gate is opened and closed according to a signal from a detection section (such as an optical sensor) that detects the position of the grip section, thereby (B) A belt pair rotational speed control means is provided in the thermocompression bonding part, and the belt is rotated by the rotational speed control means in response to a signal from a detection part for detecting the position of the grip part. A method of controlling the timing of conveying the laminated body to the nip portion entrance by accelerating or decelerating the rotational speed of the pair is mentioned.

In other words, the method for controlling the timing with the above configuration includes at least (a) the step of detecting the position of the grip portion by the detection portion, and (b) the signal from the detection portion to the nip portion entrance of the laminate. And a timing control step for controlling the timing of conveyance.
In the following, an embodiment using the timing control method (A) will be described with reference to FIG.

  When a laminated body is laminated | stacked with a collation apparatus and temporarily fixed, it will be conveyed from the left side in a figure to the shutter 50 provided in the conveyance means from a collation apparatus to a thermocompression bonding apparatus. At this time, the shutter 50 is closed, and the laminated body stops before the shutter 50.

On the other hand, the thermocompression bonding section is provided with an optical sensor 40 as a detection section, and when this detects the passage of the grip section on the belt, the timing control section (not shown) reaches the nip section inlet 39 of the belt pair. The timing is calculated, and the shutter 50 is opened at the timing when the laminated body reaches the nip entrance 39 at the same time. Then, the laminated body is conveyed by a conveying means (not shown) so as to come into contact with the grip portion at the nip portion inlet 39.
In the present embodiment, the detection unit detects the state of the belt surface, but it is also possible to provide a notch or marking on the belt surface and detect the portion.

  In the present invention, when performing the timing control, the length L of the laminate used is preferably in the range of 100 to 1000 mm, and the conveyance speed of the laminate is in the range of 1 to 20 mm / sec. Is preferred.

  As described above, the position of the grip portion provided on the belt is detected, and the laminate is slipped from the belt by controlling the timing of conveying the laminate to the nip entrance of the belt pair accordingly. It is possible to smoothly enter the nip portion without any problems. As a result, a high-quality plastic sheet (image recording body) can be obtained with high production efficiency.

  The laminated body thus heat-sealed is nipped so as not to be deformed between the heating and pressing roll pair 34 and the cooling roll pair 33 in FIG. 3, and the cooling roll is maintained while maintaining the flatness. The pair 33 will be passed. Here, in order to promote the cooling of the laminated body, here, a cooling fan 37 is installed between the heating and pressurizing roll pair 34 and the cooling roll pair 33 (if the cooling fan 37 is not installed, natural cooling is performed). ). In addition, a cleaning device 38 is installed to remove dirt and the like on the belt 31 due to continuous operation.

  As the belt pair 31, it is preferable to use a seamless belt. When the belt pair 31 is not a seamless belt, there is one seam portion where the sheet portions are joined per circle. For this reason, when laminating a laminated body, if this seam part and a laminated body overlap, an unevenness | corrugation will generate | occur | produce on the surface of a plastic sheet.

  In such a case, a sensor for detecting the seam portion of the belt is provided in the same manner as the detection portion for detecting the grip portion in the present invention as described above so that the seam portion does not come into contact with the laminate when the shutter 50 is opened. It is possible to obtain a high-quality plastic sheet having no irregularities on the surface of the plastic sheet. In this case, it is preferable that the position where the grip portion is provided is matched with the seam portion as much as possible.

(Second Embodiment)
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of another example of the image recording body manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. This production apparatus is for producing the image recording material shown in FIG. 7, and an electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet is used as the film.

The configuration of this manufacturing apparatus is a configuration in which a peeling apparatus 80 is provided further downstream of the thermocompression bonding apparatus 30 of the manufacturing apparatus described in the first embodiment. Details of the configuration other than the peeling apparatus 80 are as follows. This is the same as the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. However, in the image forming apparatus 10, since the image is transferred from the transfer sheet to the transfer target, it is necessary to form the image as a mirror image.
Therefore, according to the production apparatus of this embodiment, the image forming material transfer sheet for electrophotography can be further peeled off from the laminate after the thermocompression bonding, and the image forming material can be transferred to the support.

The steps up to the thermocompression bonding in the present embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, and will be omitted.
The laminated body that has been subjected to thermocompression bonding is then conveyed to the peeling device 80. The laminated body conveyed to the peeling apparatus 80 has a configuration shown in FIG. 7A. For example, the right end portion of the tip has a notch, and the first transfer sheet 100 and the second transfer sheet are in that portion. It is opposed to 200 with a certain gap without being bonded to the transfer body 300. When the leading end of the laminate reaches the air ejection nozzle 83, compressed air is ejected from the nozzle. Then, the end portions of the first transfer sheet 100 and the second transfer sheet 200 are lifted from the transfer body 300, and the leading end of the guide 82 is between the first transfer sheet 100 and the transfer body 300 and the second transfer. It enters between the sheet 200 and the transfer target 300. Further, as the stacked body is transported, the two transfer sheets 100 and 200 are transported along the guides 82 in the direction separating from the body to be transferred 300 and peeled off from the body to be transferred 300.

  Next, the transfer target 300 is discharged to the discharge tray 84, and a recorded transfer target (image recording member) is obtained. Here, when a plurality of individual images are formed on the recorded transfer target body, each image is cut to obtain an image recording body of a predetermined size.

  Further, the first transfer sheet 100 and the second transfer sheet 200 are then discharged to the transfer sheet discharge tray 81 through a path (not shown). The discharged transfer sheet may be returned to the transfer sheet stacker and image recording may be performed again.

  As described above, in the image recording body manufacturing apparatus of the present embodiment, an image recording body can be obtained by peeling the transfer sheet from the heat-bonded laminate and transferring the image forming material to the transfer body. Also in the embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the grip portion and the front end portion of the laminated body are in contact with each other at the inlet of the nip portion in the thermocompression bonding apparatus, and the laminated body can surely enter the nip portion. A quality image recording body can be obtained with high production efficiency.

(Third embodiment)
In the present embodiment, the grip portion in the image recording body manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is configured by using a belt pair formed by forming a plurality of holes or grooves in the belt. By providing the grip portion, it is possible to increase the frictional force with the front end portion of the laminate as in the first embodiment, and the same effect can be obtained. The configuration of the apparatus is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the following grip portion is different.

FIG. 5 is a schematic configuration diagram (perspective view) of a belt for a thermocompression bonding apparatus mounted on the image recording body manufacturing apparatus according to the embodiment.
In the belt shown in FIG. 5, four grip portions 72a and 72b (the other two portions are present on the belt lower side in the drawing) are formed on the belt circumferential surface by a plurality of grooves 74 as shown in the enlarged view. Has been. By providing such a plurality of grooves 74, the dynamic friction coefficient with the laminate can be increased at the same level as in the first embodiment.

As described above, when the groove 74 is provided in the grip portion, the shape thereof is not limited to a circle, but may be a quadrangle or other shapes, but a circle is preferable because cracks and the like are hardly generated from the groove portion. The opening area of one groove 74 is preferably in the range of 0.5 to 10 mm ² , and the depth is preferably in the range of 0.01 to 0.1 mm. Moreover, it is preferable that the total area of the groove | channel in a grip part is 5 to 50% of range of the whole area of a grip part from a viewpoint of maintaining the tensile strength of a belt.
The size of each groove need not be uniform, but is preferably substantially uniform in order to make the frictional force with the laminated body uniform. Further, the way of arranging the grooves is not particularly limited and may be a continuous groove, but it is preferable that the grooves are arranged uniformly in a zigzag pattern as shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, a groove that does not penetrate in the thickness direction of the belt is formed, but the shape is not limited to this shape as long as a sufficient driving force is given, and the tensile strength of the belt is affected. It is also possible to form a through hole as long as it does not reach. Like the groove, the shape of the hole is not limited to a circle, but may be a quadrangle or other shapes. The size and the overall area of each are the same as in the case of the groove.
Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted.

  In addition, the peeling apparatus 80 described in the second embodiment is arranged further downstream of the thermocompression bonding apparatus 30 of the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and an image is formed as a mirror image using an electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet as a film. By performing the formation, an image recording body as shown in FIG. 7B can be obtained with high production efficiency as in the second embodiment.

  Next, the support and film used in the present invention will be described. In the present invention, as described above, in the case of the image recording body shown in FIG. 6, the support is the core sheet 1, the film is the electrophotographic laminate films 3 and 5, and the image recording body shown in FIG. In this case, the support is the transfer target 300 and the film is the transfer sheets 100 and 200.

(Support)
-Core sheet-
The core sheet used in the present invention is preferably opaque so that an image formed on a light-transmitting film when it is a plastic sheet (image recording body) can be easily seen, and is more preferably colored in white. .

  As the material of the core sheet, plastic is used. Specifically, there are acetate film, cellulose triacetate film, nylon film, polyester film, polycarbonate film, polystyrene film, polyphenylene sulfide film, polypropylene film, polyimide film, vinyl chloride and the like, among which polyester film, vinyl chloride and the like are preferable. Used.

  The core sheet is colored by adding pigments or dyes thereto. In addition, the core sheet may be in the form of a film or plate, or may have a shape having a thickness that is not flexible or has a strength required for the core sheet. .

  As the core sheet used in the present invention, a film made of a plastic having a thickness of 50 to 5000 μm is preferably used, and a PET film having a thickness of 100 to 1000 μm is more preferably used.

-Transferee-
The material to be transferred used in the present invention is metal, plastic, ceramic or the like, and these are preferably in sheet form.
As the material to be transferred used in the present invention, a plastic sheet is preferable. In particular, it is preferably opaque so that an image formed when it is used as an image recording body is easily visible, and a whitened plastic sheet is used. Typically used.

  As the plastic sheet resin, it is possible to use the same resin as that used for the electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet, polyacetate film, cellulose triacetate film, nylon film, polyester film, A polycarbonate film, polystyrene film, polyphenylene sulfide film, polypropylene film, polyimide film, cellophane, ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin film and the like can be preferably used.

  Among the above, polyester film, particularly PETG in which about half of the ethylene glycol component of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) is replaced with 1,4-cyclohexanemethanol component, and the PET is mixed with polycarbonate to be alloyed. Further, non-biaxially stretched PET, and amorphous polyester called A-PET can be used more preferably.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that at least a surface of the transfer body on which an image is transferred contains the PETG. By using PETG as the image transfer surface, the transferred image forming material (toner) can be almost completely embedded in the surface of the transfer target, and the surface of the final image recording body is transferred to the electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet. The surface shape can be the same.

  When the image recording material of the present invention is used as an IC card, a magnetic card, or the like, an IC chip, an antenna, a magnetic stripe, an external terminal, etc. are embedded in a core sheet or a transfer target as necessary. Moreover, a magnetic stripe, a hologram, etc. may be printed and required character information may be embossed.

(the film)
-Laminate film for electrophotography-
The substrate usable for the electrophotographic laminate film in the present invention is required to have transparency. Here, the term “transparency” means, for example, the property of transmitting a certain amount of light in the visible light region. In the present invention, at least the formed image passes through the substrate from the surface opposite to the surface on which the image is formed. It should just be transparent so that it can be visually observed.

As the substrate, a plastic film that can be used as a material for the core sheet can be used.
Among the above-mentioned various plastic films, polyester films, particularly PETG, those obtained by mixing polycarbonate with the PET, alloyed PET, non-biaxially stretched PET, amorphous polyester called A-PET, etc. Can be used more preferably.

The Vicat softening temperature of the substrate is preferably in the range of 70 to 130 ° C, more preferably in the range of 80 to 120 ° C.
If the Vicat softening temperature is less than 70 ° C., the light-transmitting film may not be sufficiently adhered and adhered to the core sheet (core) in the thermocompression bonding step. When the Vicat softening temperature exceeds 130 ° C., the image (image forming material) or the coating layer described later is too soft even if the above-mentioned adhesion / adhesion is sufficient, and a defect (image flow) occurs in the image. May end up.

  The Vicat softening temperature is measured from a method for evaluating the softening temperature of a thermoplastic resin, and the measurement method is a method for testing the heat resistance of a molded plastic material. Are defined in JIS K7206, ASTM D1525, and ISO306.

On the other hand, the surface resistivity of at least one surface of the substrate is preferably in the range of 1.0 × 10 ^{8 to} 1.0 × 10 ¹³ Ω, and in the range of 1.0 × 10 ^{9 to} 1.0 × 10 ¹¹ Ω. More preferably.
If the surface resistivity is less than 1.0 × 10 ⁸ Ω, the resistance value of the image recording material becomes too low particularly at high temperature and high humidity, and for example, the transfer toner from the transfer member may be disturbed. When the resistivity exceeds 1.0 × 10 ¹³ Ω, the resistance value of the light-transmitting film used as the image recording body becomes too high, for example, the toner from the transfer member cannot be transferred to the film surface, resulting in transfer failure. An image defect may occur.

The surface resistivity can be measured in accordance with JIS K6991 using a circular electrode (for example, “HR probe” of Hiresta IP manufactured by Mitsubishi Oil Chemical Co., Ltd.) in an environment of 23 ° C. and 55% RH. it can.
In addition, in the electrophotographic laminate film, when only one surface has a surface resistivity in the above range, it is preferable that the surface is a surface on which an image is formed.

In controlling the surface resistivity of at least one surface of the substrate to be in the range of 1.0 × 10 ^{8 to} 1.0 × 10 ¹³ Ω, a surfactant, a polymer conductive agent or a conductive agent is directly used during the production of a film as a substrate. It is adjusted by adding functional fine particles to the resin, coating a surfactant on the film surface, depositing a metal thin film, or adding an appropriate amount of a surfactant to the adhesive. be able to.

  The thickness of the substrate is preferably in the range of 50 to 500 μm, more preferably in the range of 75 to 150 μm. If the thickness is less than 50 μm, a conveyance failure may occur, and if it exceeds 300 μm, image deterioration may occur due to transfer failure.

In the electrophotographic laminate film of the present invention, an image receiving layer is preferably formed on one side of the substrate, and a functional control means may be provided on the surface opposite to the surface on which the image receiving layer is formed. preferable.
The functionality control means preferably has at least one function selected from functions to control glossiness, light resistance, antibacterial properties, flame retardancy, mold release properties, and chargeability, Specifically, gloss, light resistance, antibacterial properties, flame retardancy, releasability, conductivity, and more preferably moisture resistance, heat resistance, water repellency, abrasion resistance and scratch resistance to the surface of the substrate. It is provided to add and / or improve various functions. Thereby, the electrophotographic laminate film having the functional control means can be resistant to various use conditions.

-Image forming material transfer sheet for electrophotography-
As the substrate of the electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet used in the present invention, the same material as the substrate of the light transmissive film can be used.
The transfer sheet used in the present invention has an image receiving layer on at least one side of the substrate, the image receiving layer contains at least a releasable material, and the surface resistivity of the image receiving layer is 23 ° C., At 55% RH, it is preferably in the range of 1.0 × 10 ^{8 to} 3.2 × 10 ¹³ Ω.

  That is, in the transfer sheet, since the image receiving layer provided on the surface has an appropriate surface resistivity range, it is possible to perform good image formation without causing transfer defects or the like even in image formation by electrophotography. it can. Further, the image receiving layer contains a releasable material, and the releasable material not only can successfully transfer an image forming material as described later to a transfer target, but also can fix an image in an electrophotographic system. It also has excellent characteristics.

  The releasable material is used for an image receiving layer for once fixing and fixing the image forming material on the transfer sheet and releasing the image forming material when the image forming material is thermocompression bonded to the transfer target. Therefore, it is desirable that the releasable material has adhesion and releasability with respect to a toner generally used as an image forming material in electrophotography.

  Such a releasable material is not particularly limited, but it preferably includes a silicone-based hard coat material because it has releasability and can suppress surface layer scratches during film transport.

<Test example>
A plastic sheet using a device for producing an image recording body as shown in FIG. 1 and comprising a pair of heat-bonding belts each having a roughened surface as shown in FIG. 4 on one belt. (Image recording material) was produced.

The belt is a stainless endless belt having a mirror-finished surface and an arithmetic average roughness Ra of 0.02 μm. The belt has a circumferential length of 1000 mm, a width of 350 mm, and a thickness of 200 μm. In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, on one of the belts, grip portions having an arithmetic average roughness of 0.5 μm on the surface with sandblasting on the surface were formed at intervals of 250 mm. These grips had a length (length in the belt circumferential direction) of 20 mm and were provided for the entire width of the belt.
In addition, when the dynamic friction coefficient with the following laminated body was measured about the said belt with the above-mentioned method, it was 1.2 about the said grip part and 0.4 about parts other than a grip part.

The image recording shown in FIG. 1 is performed on the surface of a transparent film (A4 size, thickness: 100 μm, surface resistivity: 2.8 × 10 ¹⁰ Ω, Vicat softening temperature: 78 ° C.) made of PETG resin set on the film stacker 11. Mirror image of a color including a solid image by an image forming apparatus (a film surface temperature during fixing is in a range of 95 to 100 ° C., and an oil coating apparatus is provided on a heating roll) in a body manufacturing apparatus And a laminate film on which the mirror image was formed was produced.

  On the other hand, on the A4 size white sheet (Mitsubishi Resin Co., Ltd .: Deacrail W2012, A4 size, thickness: 500 μm, Vicat softening temperature: 85 ° C.) whose surface set on the core stacker 22 is PETG and the inside is A-PET. On the other hand, the laminated film is overlapped on the front and back of the white sheet via the collating tray 25 on the image surface (laminate surface) so that the four corners of each film are aligned, and then temporarily fixed as a laminate. Temporary fastening was performed by the device 26.

  Next, the gripper and the front end of the laminate contact the laminated body that has been conveyed from the left side to the shutter 50 in FIG. 3 and stopped in response to a signal from the optical sensor 40 at the nip entrance 39 of the belt pair 31. The timing of opening the shutter 50 was controlled so that the laminate was conveyed to the nip portion inlet 39. In addition, in this apparatus, the conveyance speed of the laminated body was 10 mm / sec, and the temperature of the heating and pressing roll in the thermocompression bonding part was 150 ° C.

  Although 100 plastic sheets as described above were continuously produced, no slip of the laminate occurred at the entrance of the nip portion, and a high-quality plastic sheet could be produced with high productivity.

  Next, instead of the belt provided with the grip portion, a full-surface mirror-finished belt not provided with a grip portion was used to produce a plastic sheet similar to the above. As a result, 5 out of 100 sheets slipped at the entrance of the nip portion, and a conveyance jam occurred. This is because the dynamic friction coefficient between the laminate and the belt is small, and the conveying force does not act on the laminate sufficiently to enter the nip portion. In this test example, a heating roll coated with oil is used to fix the toner image in the image forming section of the manufacturing apparatus, so that a small amount of oil adheres to the surface of the laminate. It is considered that the amount of slip is also changing due to the fluctuation of the amount.

<Test Example 2>
In Test Example 1, a plastic sheet was prepared in the same manner except that a plurality of circular grooves were provided as grip portions on the belt.
That is, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of circular grooves having a diameter of 1 mm and a depth of 0.3 mm are formed on one belt of the belt pair 31 by metal etching in a staggered manner at intervals of 2 mm vertically and horizontally. Has been. The width and length of the entire grip part were the same as in Test Example 1. The dynamic friction coefficient between the grip part and the laminate was 1.5.

  As a result of continuously producing 100 plastic sheets similar to those in Test Example 1 with the above production apparatus, no slip of the laminate at the entrance of the nip portion occurs, and a high-quality plastic sheet can be produced with high productivity. did it.

  As described above, the present invention relates to an apparatus for producing an image recording body obtained by laminating a laminate including at least a film, and in particular, prevents occurrence of defects in the entry of the laminate into the thermocompression bonding nip portion. In view of the means and method, the present inventors have found an apparatus for producing an image recording body capable of continuously producing a high-resolution plastic sheet with high productivity without producing defective products.

  That is, by providing a grip portion on the belt and controlling the leading end of the laminate to contact the grip portion at the nip entrance, the laminate is given sufficient transport force from the belt and slips at all. It was possible to rush into the nip. The grip part of the belt is controlled so that it contacts the laminate only at the tip of the laminate and the remaining part contacts the high gloss part of the belt, so the gloss of the surface deteriorates within the effective range of the laminate. In addition, there is no problem in heat fusion, and it is possible to manufacture an image recording body while maintaining high productivity stably.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows an example of the production apparatus of the image recording body of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram which shows another example of the production apparatus of the image recording body of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detail of one structural example of the thermocompression bonding part arrange | positioned in an image recording body production apparatus. It is the schematic which shows an example of the belt which comprises the thermocompression bonding part in this invention. It is the schematic which shows another example in the belt which comprises the thermocompression bonding part in this invention. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of an example of an image recording body manufactured by the image recording body manufacturing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of another example of an image recording body manufactured by the image recording body manufacturing apparatus of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Core sheet (support)
2, 4 Image 3 Surface film (Laminate film for electrophotography)
5 Back film (Laminate film for electrophotography)
10. Image forming apparatus (image forming means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Film stacker 12 Image forming part 13, 15, 21, 24 Conveyance path 14 Discharge port 16 Reverse path 17 Cam 20 Collating device (positioning means)
22 Coastucker 23 Back film stacker 25 Collating tray 26 Temporary fastening device 30 Heat pressure bonding device (heat pressure bonding means)
31 Belt pair 32 Tension roll pair 33 Cooling roll pair 34 Heating and pressing roll pair 35 Inlet roll pair 60, 70 Belts 62a, 62b, 72a, 72b Grip part 80 Peeling device 100, 200 Electrophotographic image forming material transfer sheet (film) )
300 Transfer object (support)

Claims (3)

At least image forming means for forming an image on the surface of the film by electrophotography, and positioning the film as a laminated body so that at least one surface of the support and the surface on which the image is formed face each other An apparatus for producing an image recording body, comprising: means; and thermocompression bonding means for heating and pressurizing the positioned laminated body through a nip formed by a belt pair,
At least one grip part is provided on the surface of the belt pair on the side where the nip part is formed, a detection part for detecting the position of the grip part, and the output signal from the detection part An apparatus for producing an image recording body, comprising: a timing control unit that includes a timing control unit that conveys the stacked body and contacts a leading end portion of the stacked body and the grip portion at an entrance of the nip portion.   2. The image recording body producing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the surface roughness of the grip portion is in the range of 0.1 to 2.0 μm in terms of arithmetic average roughness Ra.   2. The image recording body manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the grip portion is formed by forming a plurality of holes or grooves in the belt.

Images